Apparatus for thawing frozen products



APPARATUS FOR THAWINQ FROZEN PRODUCTS Filed Feb. 19, 1941 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 by j v 7AM -v F. w. GIOLDTIHWAIT 2,331,184

APPARATUS FOR THAWING FROZEN PRODUCTS Filed Feb. 19, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 vii/302 32890 Patented Oct. 5, 1943 V v f2,331,1s4 APPARATUS FOR THAWING FROZEN H PRODUCTSM y I Fred Warren Goldthwait, Melr ose, Mass. 7 f ApplicationFebruary 19, '1941, Serial Nd. 379,733

3 claim (01. 99-234 My invention relates to the thawing of. frozen products, particularly frozen meatsuch as hams or the like. Animals are usually-slaughtered at special seasonsin; great .znumbersso that his neither possible nor desirableto cure the meat products simultaneously. Consequentlythemeat products are frozen and. kept in cold storage-until they are wanted for curing; L

Frozen meat is often shippedinrefrigerator cars I from the great packing centers tovvarious curin plants located about the country The consignee mustfirst thaw the meatbefore it can becured, and the general practice has been to put the frozen meat in vats: of water, let. it stand from three to five days; In this procedure the Water of the vat is first frozen by the cold meat into a solid cake and then ,thiSkiCe and the meat; embedded therein graduallythaw OVer a period of It. is the object of myinvention to provid an apparatus for thawing frozen meat, by means of which the time of thawing can be materiallyreduced and the formation of icesubstantiallyelim- 'inated. I 1-; s My invention utilizes the principle that water will not freeze while it is sufficiently agitated. Accordingly l have arranged to 1spray -water into the toplof a product-containing vat and simultaneously towithdraw water from the bottom of the vat for recirculation. .Thus the surface of the water is subjected to'constant agitation, while the remainder of the waterzis agitated by flowing to. the outlet at the bottom ofthe vat.

One feature of; mypinvention -resides in a novel system of pipes, connections and valves soarranged that portable vats may be employed to cart the meat from the refrigerator carsor trucks to thethawing location and from thence to the curing location, and at the same time adapted. to be detachably and selectively incorporated. in the unitary system inoperative relation to a spray head and an outlet connection. I

An important advantageresulting from theuse of my invention is that the pieces of meat re,- quire much less handling than is the cas when permanent vats are employed. Furthermore the task of breaking out chunks of ice from the vats to free the meat is entirely eliminated.

These and other objects and features of my invention will more readily be understood and appreciated from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, selected for purposes of illustration as the best mode of prac- 1 15' a plan view of a battery of vats and associated apparatus for thawingfrozen products. Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1,,and 1 Fig. 3 is a View in cross section along the line 33 of Fig. 1, showing the connection to the bottom of the vat. I

As shown in the .drawingshI provide a battery of .vats I0 of'conventional size and shape, prefer,-

ably made of wood. The bottoms of the vats are secured to flat bases-I2 which are supported by supports or legs I lso arranged that a. handtrucl;

can be, run between thelegsand under the base.

It'will ,be understood that with this "arrangement e the vats and their bases can be moved about with facility. I contemplate wheeling each vatv to a point adjacenta refrigerator car and then loading the vat with frozen meattaken from the car. The appearance of a loaded vat is suggested in Fig. 2 wherein appear a number of hams. l6 or other meat products. J When eachvat. -hasbeen loaded, it is trundled back to a position beneath an overhead sprayaheadg As shown iniFig. l'

there are four vats and four of such heads 00 1i- ,prising horizontal spray pipes; l-8, but it :will' be understood that the number of vats may be varied as desired. Each spray head or pipe lfi i connected through a pipe; I 9 .to a cross :20 ato which leads. a vertical supporting pipe 22 mountedgon-a standard 26. A handshut-oif valve 24 is;placed inthe pipe 22. A lower horizontal pipezli con nects the vertical pipe 22 to another crossfidld cated outside the group of vats, and apipe 32pm. v r I nects-the cross 30 to-the discharge end ofapnmp 34. The size. and type-of 7 pump is not important and thesefactors will depend upon the extent of the installation, particularly the number of vats used. The cross 30 is also connected to a pipe at controlled by a hand. shut-off valve .38 Fand a similar pipe J10 having a valve 42.- The pipes to ing circulated in the thawingapparatus suction end of-the pump 34. leads a pipe A l in which is contained a check valve 46. The pipe 44 1 leads through a hand shut-off valve and a short riser to a cross 48 from which lead four flexible hose connections'BO. y

, Referring particularly to Fig. 3, it will be observed that the flexible hose connection 50"leads in each case to a coupling 52, preferably of the typewhich can be easily connected and disconlarge holes may be secured to the wall of the,

vat below the hose of the pipe 55.

The operation of the apparatus will have been suggested from'the foregoing description. Briefly speaking, when the desired and selected vats containing the frozen meat product have been assembled in the system water is discharged into the product containing vats through the spray pipes I8 which are spaced at some distance above the tops of the vets. iThepumpis arranged to deliver the "water under relatively high pi essure so that it is sprayed into the vats w itha high velocity. The result is that the surface of the water in each vat is continuously agitaited. I-he pump 34 sucks the water; from the-bottom of the vats and re-circulates it to the =spray pipes l8, sufficient water being used to -keep the'vats sub s'tantially full at all times. The e'fiect hi the false bottoms is to causeegitatio'h of -the water near the bottom of the vats and thus prevent the foi'mation of static pockets-in which ice will form. The result is that-the water at" the top i of the vats is constantly agitated as is the-water at the bottom of the vats. The waterin'between nates-the arduous task of breaking -upthe-solid mass of ice-in the-vats -and '-1-emevingthe=meat therefrom. .I use wa terltrom citymainswhich averages 50 to 5 0 andithisis important because water at a higher degree '-of temperature promotes rapid bacterial growth and consequent rotting of the meat. The expense is also-much less than would be the case if brine were -used as a-means-to reduce the freezing point.

It .w-i1l=be understood-that the vats are dis-- connected by first closing the valves- 4! and M and then disconnecting the coupli'ngfl. The hand trucks may then be run in beneath the bases l2 and the vats-can becarriedofito be'unloaded. The fact that the-vats are themselves portable saves the expense "of providing other containers in which the -'product may be transportedto and from the" thawing apparatus. The spray --pip es [B are located permanently in a compact group at a heightabove the floor sufi'icient to 'permit any selected vat tobe moved into "place beneathany spray pipe without'obstruction.

supply and return pipes are located centrally in the apparatus and thus leave free and unobstructed floor space over which the vats may be moved in being brought into operation or being removed with their contents of the thawed product. I

The apparatus shown in the drawings is the best means of practicing the invention now known to me although the scope of my invention is not limited to the precise system herein shown. For example, each vat may be supplied -by a plurality of spray pipes and the false bottoms may be dispensed with in some cases without ill efiect.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

.1. hpparaitus forithawing frozen meat products, comprising a series of spray pipes maintained at predetermined height in a group above the floor, a=shut-=ofi valve controlling the individual.group-ofspraypipes, atplnrality of vats each provided withzareturn outlet near-its bottom and each movableindependently upon the floor into position beneath one bf the :spray pipes, supply and return rpipes located beneath the roup of spray .pipes and centrally within the outline of the group, and flexibledetachable return connections extending outwardly irom the return pipe to the outlet of each vat, whereby any vat may be brought into or moved out of operative relati'onito :anioverhead spray and a return connection.

2..Apparatus Iior th'a'wing frozen meat products, comprising a series or spray I'heads loca'ted in'a :c'ompa'ct group-above the floor, asupply ipe for theg-roup of spray heads having a shut-01f valve therein, a plurality-of Wats :each provided with a return outlet near its bottom and each :movable independently-upon the fioor into position beneath a spray head, a return pipe leading 'gpproxima'telyto the center of thegroup of vats, and flexible-detachable return connections extending outwardly from the return pipe to the outlt-bf each vat, whereby any vatmay be brought into =or out of operative relation to an overhead spray and -a :return connection.

3. Apparatus Zfor thawing frozen meat products, co'rriprisinga circulating system including a vertical r-ise'r having branches extending to a 'series-o'f-spray pipes located above the floor ina compact group, -a shutoff valve in the riser for controlling the'group of spray "pipes, 'a plurality of vats each movable 'indepen'dentlyon the floor into position beneath-a spray pipe=and each having a'permanent outletelementprojecting out- -wardly near its bottom, returnconnections including a head loca'ted centrally among said vats adjacent ie t he fioor, flexible det achable connections exten'din'g outwardly from said head whereby any-selected -va't maybe-installed in "operative relation beneath a-spray pipe and provided with a return connection to its -own outlet,=and conmotions for supplying -ma'ke-up water to the circulating-system.

wARREN 

